Many devices and apparatus have previously been developed in efforts to simulate the very rapid mid-air flight of a ball in various sports and to enable a devotee of the sport to practice the proper and correct stroking or striking of that ball in mid-air. Tennis is an excellent example of such a sport and the present invention will be illustrated and described in connection with tennis but it is to be understood that such is primarily for the purposes of illustration and the inventive concept, in its broader aspects, is not to be construed as limited to such a sport.
Some of these prior devices and apparatus have been developed and have been commercialized to some degree but they have not really accurately or precisely simulated the true, very rapid flight of a tennis ball in mid-air. As a consequence, such prior devices and apparatus have not been really commercially acceptable or successful.
Additionally, in many cases, the ball, after being stroked or struck, either did not come back to the striker at all, or did not return in about the same manner or to the same location. As a result, the need for repetitive practice of the same, identical swing was not satisfied and the swing could not be "grooved".
Also, an area element was involved. Tennis has enjoyed a very rapid expansion and growth in the past few years and the number of available tennis courts and practice courts is insufficient to meet the ever-growing demand. Such tennis courts are rather large in area, a tennis court measuring 36 feet by 78 feet, and with the required additional room at each side of the side lines and in back of the base lines, brings the total required area to well over 5,000 square feet. Such large areas are, unfortunately, not too available, especially in or near cities.
However, if a smaller area could be used for practice purposes, there would naturally be a greater availability of such smaller areas and thus more practice devices and apparatus could be constructed and used. In this way, the pressure of the demand for the use of the large, conventional tennis courts would be lessened. However, the more satisfactory prior practice devices and apparatus required nearly as large an area as the conventional tennis courts and thus did not increase the availability of utilizable areas and did not lessen the demand for the use of the large area conventional tennis courts.
The need is therefore still very great for some sort of practice device or apparatus which can be utilized in a relatively smaller area and which can accurately and precisely simulate the very rapid flight of a tennis ball in mid-air and which can practically guarantee the return of the ball to the hitter in about the same manner and to the same location to facilitate the requirement of repetitiveness in order to "groove" the swing.